Rant: I thought a cheap thermal paste was fine for a client's gaming rig

I used Arctic Silver 5 for years but switched to a generic brand to save $8 on a build. The CPU temps hit 95C under load after a month. Anyone have a budget paste that actually holds up?

3 comments

3 Comments

mia_park2mo ago

Watched my buddy go through this exact thing last year. He put some no name paste from a combo pack on his own PC to save a few bucks. Thing ran fine for a few weeks then just started cooking itself during games. He had to take the whole cooler off again and clean off this dried up, crusty mess. Total waste of time that cost him more in the end. Now he just grabs a tube of MX-4 and it lasts forever.

adam_anderson62mo ago

Sounds like my first build, learned that lesson fast.

fiona33217d ago

Isn't it funny how the "save a few bucks now" mindset almost always ends up costing you MORE time and money later? I've noticed that same pattern with people buying cheap phone chargers that fry their batteries or dollar store tools that break after one use. Sometimes you just have to accept that some things are worth paying for upfront to avoid the headache down the road.